Royal Mail goes green in Hebrides

Royal Mail's transport trial on the Isle of Lewis, above, could end with a number of its 35,000 vans and lorries running on hdyrogen instead of petrol. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian Murdo Macleod/Guardian

The nation's posties have used the greenest kinds of transport for generations, relying on their feet and their distinctive fleet of red bicycles to make their rounds.

Now their delivery vehicles, too, could go green. For the last few months, it has emerged, the Royal Mail has been secretly testing new zero-carbon vehicles on one of the remotest delivery rounds in Britain, in the Outer Hebrides.

Instead of diesel-belching vans, postal staff on the Isle of Lewis have been driving hydrogen-powered Ford Transits, converted at a total cost of £100,000. They fill up in Stornoway, at one of the UK's few hydrogen refuelling stations.

If the trial is a success the vehicles could be rolled out across the UK, helping to replace some of Royal Mail's fleet of 35,000 conventionally powered vans and lorries.

Other commercial van operators are understood to be interested in the trial, though the vehicle's range is, at present, just 85 to 135 miles – well under the normal capability of 300 miles.

Although hydrogen fuelling stations are scarce, on the Outer Hebrides diesel and petrol prices are usually among the highest in the UK, and hydrogen is seen as an answer to the fuel issue. The gas is created by the vehicle's electrolyser using electricity that could eventually be provided entirely from the wind and wave power the Hebrides has in abundance. Unlike petrol or diesel, hydrogen when burnt releases only water vapour.

The test vehicle was lent to Royal Mail by Cenex, a national low-carbon and fuel-cell research centre with bases in Loughborough and Coventry.

Stephen Pegrum, principal design engineer at Revolve Technologies, which converted the vehicle, said: "A lot of people, especially large fleet operators, are all watching this trial because of its huge implications. We have spent a year on its development, but it has big potential. I think it has the potential to ultimately revolutionise the transport market – but it is not in itself a silver bullet. There will be a mix of technologies involved in the future of transport, and hydrogen will be one of them."

Royal Mail was severely criticised after it scrapped all its sorting trains in 2004 as a cost-cutting measure and in favour of domestic flights and long-distance lorries. That decision was partially reversed later that year, and some "travelling post offices" were reinstated using privatised freight train companies.

A spokeswoman said Royal Mail was now "considering the findings from the trial".